A New Life: Chapter 9: Beneath the Surface
by betterthings89
Summary: This saga is about the lives of the children of Lilly&Oliver and their friends children too. This chapter is about relationship changes and hidden feelings. Please leave reviews!


_* I hope you like this! __**Please leave reviews**__!_

**A New Life**

**-Chapter 9: Beneath the Surface–**

As she walked into the living room of her house Rose Oken saw her two brothers coming in through the front door. Her older brother Jimmy was attached at the wrist to his girlfriend Alice. They always laughed and kissed and held hands, sometimes even in front of her. Lately she thought they where kissing a little too much. It made her a little uncomfortable. All these things had been a little too much for Rose to understand. She was twelve and already interested in boys. But she still didn't think they were _that_ big of a deal. She supposed that someday soon maybe she would feel otherwise. And unbeknownst to her that day was closer than she thought.

She entered her seventh grade class with her best friend Alex. He sat down next to her and they started talking. "Hey Rose have you gotten somebody to be your partner for the science fair project?" Alex asked her. "No not yet, but I think I know who I'm gonna ask." Rose said. There was a boy across the classroom she was staring at. She thought he must have been the cutest boy she'd ever seen. At that moment she realized she was definitely into boys. His name was Benjamin Linus. But everyone just called him Ben. She wasn't one to procrastinate so she got up and walked over to Ben. "Hey Ben, you have a partner for Science Fair?" Rose asked. "Ohh, I'm sorry Rose, I do. If you'd asked me yesterday I'd definitely have said 'yes'. I'm sorry." Ben said. This didn't discourage her. She still had a crush on him.

She moved back to her desk. "So how'd it go with Ben? Does he want to work with you on it?" Alex asked. "No, he's already picked a partner." Rose said. Inside Alex was jumping for joy. Outwardly he just acted casually. "I'll be your partner Rose." Alex suggested. "Ok, that works. It's just you're my partner every year. I thought I'd do something different. You know? But we can do the project." Rose said.

Alex saw the way Rose looked at Ben. He knew what was going on. And he wasn't going to kid himself at all. He was jealous because he had recently discovered that he liked girls. And with this discovery he had also realized that he liked one girl in particular. And that was of course his best friend Rose. He liked her a lot. For that reason it made him more than a little jealous that Rose seemed to have a thing for another guy. But he also supposed that because she was his best friend and she didn't seem to feel the same way about him as he felt about her, that he shouldn't say anything to her. This was for fear of ruining his friendship with her. So he stayed silent for the moment.

Rose and Alex didn't have the same class for their next period. She had pre-Algebra and he had seventh grade math, which was a level below her class. Throughout his class Alex couldn't get it out of his mind. _"Why does she like that guy? Why Ben Linus? What's he got that I don't?" _He thought. _"Maybe she likes blond guys with green eyes?" _Alex had brown hair and hazel-colored eyes. It just didn't make any sense to him. He was her best friend. Why didn't she like him like that? He thought maybe it was all just in his head. Maybe she didn't really have a crush on Ben. But what was more; he didn't know why he cared so much. She was his friend; there was nothing between them besides their friendship. But for some reason no matter how much he reassured himself, he still couldn't rid himself of the feeling. It was a feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a feeling of sadness, of being let down somehow. He supposed it was just him letting himself down. After all he hadn't told her that he had a crush on her, so there was no one else to blame but himself. That was the main reason why it was such a major blow to him to see Rose going for another guy. One thing was for sure. He couldn't tell her how he felt. If he was right it would mean the end of their friendship. So he made up his mind that he wouldn't say anything to Rose, no matter how painful it was to hold it all in. The problem was he had no idea how difficult it was going to be, knowing that he had feelings for her, feelings he could not express, and seeing that she liked someone else.

Alice was in her room thinking about Jimmy. She was thinking about how much she loved being with him all the time. She loved his deep blue eyes, and his short dark hair. She felt safe with him, somewhat, just feeling his firm arms around her waist. She loved everything about him from head to toe. She also thought about how close they had been getting lately. She was lost in thought when her older brother Simon came in. She was lying on her back looking at him upside down. "Hey Aly, how's it going?" He asked nonchalantly. "Ok, I guess. Can I talk to you about something Simon?" she asked. "Of course, anything." Simon said. "Well it's about Jimmy. What do you think of him?" Alice asked, crinkling her forehead a little bit. "He's a good kid. I think he's the right guy for my little sister. Unless there's something you want to tell me. Is there?" Simon asked. "Well, I really like him a lot. I can't see myself with anybody else, not right now. But he and I've been kissing a lot lately…and…" She said. "When you say 'a lot' what do you mean?" Simon asked. "I mean, like, every chance we get, we just start kissing. I don't know. It feels like I'm doing it cause I'm really into him. But…" She said. "Is he starting it, cause I know how guys can get. When I started dating my first girlfriend, I kissed her a lot! I think that's just the way it is with younger couples in high school. They just kiss a lot." Simon said. "Well I start it a lot of the time, but he does some times. But I think… there's gotta be more to it than just kissing. I don't want it to be all about that." Alice said. "Then you should tell him that. He needs to know. If you don't tell him, he's not gonna know, and he's just gonna keep going like this. He's a fourteen year old guy. Trust me he's not gonna come to the realization that you two are doing too much kissing and not enough of anything else. He just won't. You gotta talk to him about it. He's smart, trust me, he'll understand." Simon said. "Thanks Simon." Alice smiled up at him. "No problem." He said. He turned and left her room.

The next day Jimmy and Alice where walking down an empty field of flowers that was a couple of a minutes away from the beach. They stopped and looked at each other. They smiled. They liked everything about each other at this very moment. They didn't start kissing at first, but they soon would. "So Jimmy, you think we should try to help Sam out with Summer?" Alice asked. "What are we supposed to help him with?" Jimmy asked, looking confused. "They both like each other a lot. You saw them at the dance." Alice said. "Yeah, what's your point?" Jimmy asked, still not following what she was saying. "They might have something, you know?" Alice asked. "Yeah, I think so. I think you're right." Jimmy said. The reason why it had taken him so long to catch onto what she was saying was that he was so caught up in how beautiful she looked, her eyes glistening in the sunlight, and her hair blowing freely in the wind. He also couldn't help noticing how attractive she looked. She was wearing a top that really caught his eyes. It made her curves very apparent and her midriff was showing slightly. He was very taken by the whole picture. He really wanted to just kiss her. The truth was they had been kissing a lot lately. It was pretty much every chance they got. This would be their fifth time today, and it wasn't even two o'clock in the afternoon.

"You think we should say something to Sam?" Alice asked. "Yeah, I guess. They would make a good couple." Jimmy said. Alice caught sight of his eyes; she was always quite taken by his eyes. She grabbed onto the bulging muscle of his right arm and put her other hand on his stomach. They kissed each other happily. It was long and sweet both in feeling and in taste. Suddenly Alice was rocked by a surge of attraction; she pulled away from him slightly. She looked up at him and said in an excited voice "Take off your shirt." Jimmy stood up straight and reached his hands down to the brim of his shirt, ready to pull it off and continue to kiss Alice. But he paused, without lifting his shirt at all. "What? Are you serious? We're not… Huh?" Jimmy said, very confused and just as embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. Really. I wasn't thinking I guess. Of course, I shouldn't have said that. I'm not that kind of girl anyway." Alice said. "And I'm not that kind of guy either. I wouldn't get like that with you. It's just not right, you know?" Jimmy said. "Yeah. Heh. I'm sorry. That was embarrassing." Alice said. "Yeah. How 'bout we just relax for a little while? And we both agree to keep our shirts on." Jimmy said, blushing a little. "Yeah. Agreed." Alice said. They walked slowly through the field with their hands connected at their sides, staring at their feet instead of each other. This momentary lapse in her judgment had further confirmed Alice's suspicion that she was going too fast with Jimmy.

They didn't kiss again until later that night. And Alice still hadn't followed her brother's advice. The next day was more of the same. They spent their entire Sunday afternoon sitting on the beach, smiling, and laughing and kissing. That evening they kissed each other goodbye at her front door. As she walked in she promised herself that the next chance she got, she was going to tell Jimmy how she felt.

On Monday Rose and Alex walked to school together. They had all but one class together today. They got through history during their first period. They both received an 'A' on the pop quiz they were given. They met for lunch after their second class, which was math period and they were in different classes for math. "So, you ready for Mr. Andrews' class?" Rose asked Alex. "Yeah, he's always more interesting than most of our other teachers." Alex commented. About a half an hour later the bell rang and they walked to English class together. During the class their teacher, Mr. Andrews, went over his favorite poems. At the end he had an announcement to make. "There is a play after school on Friday, it's a classic called 'The Nutcracker'. I want you all to go see it. If you come back with a program from the play, I'll give you extra credit on your next test." Mr. Andrew's told them. "So do you wanna go?" Alex asked Rose. "Yeah, it'll be fun. Or if it's not, at least we'll get extra credit, right?" Rose said. "Yeah. So I'll meet you outside the auditorium Friday night?" Alex asked. "Sure. We can sit together." Rose said.

Jimmy and Alice where walking home from school on Wednesday when they stopped for a minute. Things happened just the way they had been happening fairly regularly lately. They looked into each others' eyes and without any words began to kiss in a rather casual manner. Alice had been the one to start it, but she didn't let it last for very long. She pulled away after several seconds. "What's wrong?" Jimmy asked. "I need to talk you." Alice said. "Okay, what is it?" Jimmy asked. "Well I think maybe we're going a little too fast." She said. "Too fast?" he said squinting his eyes in a confused look. "I mean is this really all there is to us? Making out randomly?" Alice asked. "I hope not. I do like kissing you. But I think you're right. We're in trouble if that's all we've got." Jimmy said. "I like kissing you too… But I've just been thinking about it a lot lately and… when we were kissing the other day and I told you to take off your shirt… that really got me thinking. If I was that into it that I would just say something like that… maybe we need to step back and take it a little slower. You know what I mean?" Alice asked. "I know what you mean. To tell the truth I was gonna say something to you. It might have taken me a little longer, but I was going to. By the way I wasn't gonna take off my shirt." Jimmy said. "I know you weren't. That's what makes you such a good boyfriend. You're pretty mature. You think about things like that with more… well in a more grown up way than most boys do." Alice said. "I like to think I'm pretty mature." Jimmy said, smiling. Alice kissed him on the cheek. "So it's agreed. Less kissing and more… us?" Alice asked. "Exactly." Jimmy agreed. They walked down the sidewalk hand in hand and just talked until they reached Alice's house. "So I'll see you tomorrow." Alice said. "Not if I see you first." Jimmy said cutely.

On Thursday Michael got home from school feeling drowsy. Jimmy saw him and gave him a dirty look. "What did I tell you little bro? You've gotta check your blood sugar. Where's your meter?" Jimmy asked. "I think I left it in my room." Michael said groggily. They had both recently been diagnosed with type one diabetes. Jimmy had learned how to manage his diet and take regular readings of his blood sugar levels, and if he needed to he could get his insulin from the nurse when he was at school. However Michael had not been able to make the adjustment as quickly. He still forgot to bring his testing meter with him and sometimes ate some of the wrong things. Then he would get confused about what to do when he started feeling badly. "Ok Mikey, sit down. I'll get you straightened out. But you've gotta be able to do this on your own. You can't keep forgetting your meter. And you have to look at what the doctor gave us about what we can eat and how much. You obviously don't remember." Jimmy said. Michael slumped down on the couch.

Jimmy ran upstairs, passed Rose in the hallway, and went into Michael's room. He found Michael's meter sitting on his nightstand next to the alarm clock. He snatched it up and ran back down stairs. "Here, take your reading." Jimmy said placing the device in the palm of Michael's hand. It was about the size of a double A battery. Michael pressed the end of it to his finger and it made a beeping sound instantly. "Okay lemme see." Jimmy said. He took the meter from Michael's outstretched hand. He looked at the number it read on the display. "You dipped pretty low this time. Michael you need to be more careful. You're gonna have really bad problems if this keeps happening. Maybe mom and dad need to take you back to the doctor so he can explain it some more." Jimmy suggested. He knew this would scare Michael into being more cautious about dealing with his diabetes. Jimmy went into the kitchen and got a few things and then came back and sat down next to Michael. "Here drink this; you'll feel a little better." Jimmy said handing him a cup. Michael sipped liberally from the cup of orange juice. As he did so he began to look a little livelier. "Take your reading one more time, ok?" Jimmy said. Michael did what he was told. When Jimmy saw the number on the read-out he cringed a little bit. "Okay, no problem. Lift up you shirt a little bit Mikey." Jimmy told him. He picked up the other thing he had retrieved from the kitchen. It was a needless insulin injecting pen. He set it to the proper dosage for Michael's reading. He still had to give Michael insulin because Michael hadn't learned his dosages. Jimmy on the other hand had memorized both his and his brother's dosages. Michael obediently lifted his shirt, exposing his thin, and pail stomach. "You really need to learn how to do this yourself." Jimmy said. He pinched a piece of Michael's skin at the bottom of his stomach. He pressed the tip of the pen into the skin, and then he pulled it away. "Okay, now just relax. Tell me when you start feeling better." Jimmy said. Michael grabbed him by the wrist. "Thanks Jimmy. I'm gonna try harder. Okay?" Michael said with a small smile. "Okay. I'm glad." Jimmy said. He rubbed his hand over Michael's head and messed up his hair. Michael laughed as Jimmy walked over to the other couch and started on his homework. He knew Michael would be okay. He would eventually get the hang of things. It was just going to take him a little bit longer because he was younger and less mature.

On Friday evening Rose came down the stairs dressed in a fairly casual outfit. She went into the kitchen where her father was talking to her brothers. "Michael you don't have to go back to the doctor. But we are gonna have to help you learn how to manage everything. You have diabetes, and it's affecting you now. So you're gonna have to realize that you can't just do everything like it's not there." Oliver said. "But Jimmy said we where gonna pretend like it isn't even there." Michael protested. "And how's that workin' out for you?" Oliver asked sarcastically, giving Jimmy a disapproving look. "That's not what I said. I told you we were gonna learn how to deal with it so it would just be another part of our normal routine and it would _feel_ like it wasn't even there. I didn't say pretend like it's not there. You almost didn't make it home yesterday. Do you really think that means you should pretend it's not there?" Jimmy asked. "No." Michael said quietly, looking down at his feet. "Maybe I should have explained what I meant a little better." Jimmy said. "Maybe you should have." Oliver said sternly.

"Dad, I'm going to meet Alex at school for that play we have to see." Rose said. "Okay, don't be too late getting home." Oliver said. "Okay, bye." Rose said. She walked out of the front door and headed for her school. She got there in about fifteen minutes. When she had reached the door outside of the auditorium entrance Alex was standing there waiting for her. "Ready to go in?" Alex asked. "Yeah, let's go." Rose said. They walked into the auditorium and looked for seats. Rose looked around for a few moments as if she was trying to spot someone. Then she turned and said "Okay let's sit here." They sat down next to each other in seats that were a row in front of some of Rose's girl friends. "Hey Rose, hey Alex." A girl named Lynn said. "Hey." Rose said back. "Hey, Ben's over there. He looks really cute tonight." Another girl said. Rose smiled in agreement. Alex tried not to listen. Girls talking about boys made him feel uncomfortable.

They sat through the first half of the play in relative silence. They would make the occasional comment about something they saw on stage. But for the most part they said nothing. They were supposed to stay quiet anyway, and they weren't very enthusiastic about the play. Every once in a while Alex noticed that Rose was staring off into the audience of students at something he couldn't see at first. But when the lighting was just right he could see the person she was looking at. It was Ben Linus. Alex decided that he would think nothing of it. After about an hour the stage hands called an intermission. This was a chance for everyone to get up and stretch their legs and use the restrooms if they needed to. Rose stood up and looked down at Alex. "I'll be back. I need to use the ladies room." She said. "Okay." Alex responded. When she was out of the room he sat there and thought to himself. _"I like her. Why don't I just tell her before it's too late? But what if she doesn't like me back? Telling her would ruin everything then."_ He thought.

He hadn't been paying any attention to what Roses' other friends where saying until suddenly he heard her named get mentioned. "Wow Rose really likes Ben." One of them said. This bothered Alex, but only just a little bit. "She should ask him out." Another girl said. This bothered Alex a little more. But he knew Rose wasn't allowed to start dating boys until the summer before she turned fourteen. It would have been she couldn't date until she actually turned fourteen, but her older brother had broken the rule himself, so her parents were willing to bend the rule for her too. "She can't keep her eyes off him. But who could blame her, right?" Another girl said. They all giggled in agreement. The fourth girl said something that got Alex's full attention. "I heard she kissed him." The girl said.

Alex could handle this no longer. It was making his skin crawl listening to what they said. And that last comment that he had heard made him feel sick. He couldn't sit there any longer. He just couldn't. He stood up and moved toward the doors in the back of the auditorium with great haste. As he made his way to the exit he took no notice of the fact that his face had become bright red, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He realized that he didn't like Rose at all. In fact he loved her. It was tearing him apart to realize he couldn't tell her no matter how much it hurt him. She was interested in another boy and there was nothing he could do about it. He made it outside of the school building, but he could go no further. All the emotions he had been holding in as he had walked out of the auditorium began to cripple him. He slumped down against a light pole. He sat there on the cold cement walkway and cried. His face was red, his eyes where bloodshot, his face soaked with tears, and his heart was broken into a million pieces. He couldn't imagine how things could be any worse. He supposed the only thing that could make his night worse would be to see Rose and Ben come out of the doors behind him together.

But the play would not be over for at least another full hour. Alex knew that he couldn't let anyone see him like this, especially not Rose. For this reason he knew that he must be long gone by the time the play ended and people began to leave. But much to his dismay someone did come outside. It wasn't Rose. But that was only a small comfort to him. It was a girl, surely if she saw him she would laugh at him for how pathetic he looked. Much to his amazement she didn't even crack a smile when she spotted him. "Alex Rhodes? Is that you? Are you okay?" The girl said. She walked closer to him. He wished she wouldn't. He wanted her to just go away and let him drown in his tears and be consumed with misery and heartbreak.

But there no such luck for him tonight. She had other plans. "Are you okay?" She repeated. As she got closer to him he recognized who she was. Her name was Kristen Bauer. She was a very pretty girl, with a very friendly and outgoing personality. She had always been very nice to Alex even though she wasn't his friend. When they had spoken on occasion Kristen had always been especially pleasant to him. If he had been more in tune with other people's behavior he might have thought she had a thing for him.

"What?" He sputtered out through the tears he was now trying to wipe away. His face became even redder from embarrassment. "Are you okay? You're crying. What's wrong?" Kristen asked in a very concerned voice. "Nothing's wrong." Alex mumbled. "It sure doesn't look that way to me." Kristen said. He said nothing, he was mortified. Kristen couldn't possibly understand what he was going through and the one thing he was absolutely sure of was that he was not going to tell her anything. "Alex, what happened? Why are you crying?" She asked. "You don't know me. Leave me alone." He blubbered through tears. "It's too late. I'm involved. I have to know what's going on or I'll never forgive myself." Kristen said matter-of-factly. "I can live with that." Alex responded callously. "Well I'm not gonna leave till you tell me. And I can wait longer than you can. I know you'll want to be gone before everybody comes out and sees you like this." Kristen said. Alex knew she had a point, but he was willing to take the risk. He didn't want to give her an answer under any circumstances. So he sat there in silence with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"If you won't tell me, I'll have to start guessing. And I'm warning you I'm pretty good." Kristen threatened. The truth was she had seen him with Rose enough to interpret what he felt towards her. She had a pretty good idea what was going on because she had also seen where Rose's attention had been focused lately. "Is it your friend Rose? Does it have something to do with her?" Kristen asked. He turned his head away quickly. "Then that's a 'yes'." Kristen said. That question had been like a knife in his heart, intensifying the already stabbing emotional pain he felt. "You like her a lot, don't you? Don't worry I won't tell anyone." Kristen said. Alex stayed quiet. He was in too much agony to respond. "Oh, I know what this is about." She continued. _"Please don't let her. Say something else. Say something meaningless. I can't take this…" _He thought to himself. "I've seen her around school. She has a crush on that guy Ben Linus. You like her and she doesn't like you like that. She just likes you as a friend." Kristen said. "I love her." He blurted out, his voice weak and crackling. He pulled himself up, getting ready to flee the scene. "That's terrible… No that came out wrong. That's really sweet. But it's terrible that you can't say anything or do anything. You're really a great friend, you're willing to be around her all the time and hold all this in, and still act all normal." Kristen said. He stared at her with bloodshot eyes that where filled with tears. She reached over and hugged him. He seemed to calm down, but only a little bit. When she pulled away from him, he gave her a look that said 'Don't say anything else or I might die.' She seemed to understand so she didn't say anything else. She simply got a little closer to him and kissed him on the left cheek. His face had almost returned to its normal color. But now it was once again bright red. He looked at her with an expression that said 'Have you lost your mind'. Then he turned around and took off running as fast as he could. He didn't know how he was going to deal with this or if he even could. One thing he knew was that he couldn't face Rose anymore, not for a while at least.

Next Wednesday came, and with it came the evening of Jimmy's second wrestling match. He had done fairly well in his first match, managing to pin two out of three of his opponents. The Okens were all going to cheer for Jimmy. Susan and Robbie Rod where coming with Michael. Sam was coming and Alice was coming too, of course. "Rose, Alex is gonna meet you there, right? He doesn't need a ride?" Lilly asked. "He's not coming." Rose said, a puzzled expression on her face. "How come? He came last time. He comes to see you at your things too. He comes with you to everything he can actually." Lilly said. "I don't know. All I know is I called and his mom said he couldn't come, that he was too busy or something." Rose said. "That's weird; he's never been too busy before." Lilly said. "Yeah, he's been acting really strange lately." Rose said. "Strange how?" Lilly asked. "He always sits next to me in class. But now… this week he's been sitting across the room. And it seems like he's been avoiding me in the hallways." Rose said. "Avoiding you?" Lilly asked. "Yeah, as soon as he sees me he turns and walks off in the opposite direction. I keep calling and his mom keeps telling me he can't talk. And he missed our meeting for the science project. He was supposed to come over so we could work on it together. But he just emailed me the stuff he was supposed to do." Rose said. "That's really weird. Did he say anything or did he just start acting like this?" Lilly asked. "He didn't say anything to me. It was this last Saturday, I called him so we could hang out and his mom told me he was busy. I didn't think anything of it. But on Monday at school that's when it really started. I keep trying to catch him and talk to him. But like I said he's been avoiding me." Rose said. "Remember when you guys where little and you used to play hide and seek?" Lilly asked. "Yeah, what about it?" Rose asked. "Whenever Alex was 'it' you could never find him. He was too good of a hider." Lilly said. "I guess that's why he's been able to hide from me like this. I just wish I knew why he was doing it." Rose said. "Give it time; he won't keep it up for long." Lilly said. "I hope you're right." Rose said.

After they got to the gym Jimmy got changed and made his way out onto the floor. He began his stretches near the bench. The rest of them were in the bleachers waiting to see him compete. "Wow look at Jimmy. His muscles have gotten really big." Lilly said. "A lot of that isn't from training for wrestling. Most of it is from all the working out he was already doing. But this helps." Oliver said. Alice had her eyes locked on Jimmy, as she would for the entire competition. About a half an hour later it was Jimmy's turn to begin his first round. It was pretty close at first. It didn't look as though either Jimmy or his opponent had the upper hand. But after about a minute Jimmy lost whatever advantage he had and was pinned on the mat. He didn't know what had happened. It was as if all of his strength had left him. His family and friends cheered him on anyway. His second round ended even more quickly than the first. His opponent pinned him in less than thirty seconds. He just didn't seem to have any strength. His third and final round was the worst. He was pinned in just over ten seconds. When he walked off of the mat the coach took him aside. "What's going on with you Oken?" Coach Hayes asked him. "I don't know. I just kept losing my strength." Jimmy said. "Did you get enough sleep? Did you eat right?" Hayes asked. "Yeah, it wasn't either of those." Jimmy said. "Is it you're diabetes?" Hayes asked. Just then it dawned on Jimmy, he pulled his meter out of his towel on the bench. He took a reading. "What's it say Oken?" Hayes asked. "It's pretty low. I guess I still haven't gotten one hundred percent adjusted to this whole thing. I must've forgotten to test myself and not eaten the right things to get the reading up." Jimmy said. "You've been lagging in practice lately and this match… I can't ignore what happened tonight. I think you need to sit it out for the rest of the season." Hayes said. "What?" Jimmy asked. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You're off the team for the rest of the season. You can certainly come back next year." Hayes said. "But…" Jimmy started. "Not buts, now that's my final word." Hayes told him.

Jimmy walked into the locker room and changed. Then he came out into the hallway. Minutes later he was joined by his family and their friends. "What was the coach talking to you about?" Oliver asked his son. "I'm off the team. My blood sugar was too low. I couldn't keep up enough strength. I HATE HAVING DIABETES!" Jimmy shouted. "It's okay. You slipped up a couple of times. You've pretty much got the hang of it." Lilly said. "But I really wanted to be on the wrestling team." Jimmy said. "It'll be okay, you've got plenty of other things. You can get more training in for track and you'll be in great shape for it this spring." Lilly said. "Okay. I guess that's true." Jimmy conceded. "And you can still work out like you usually do. That way you'll be even stronger next year for wrestling." Oliver said. "That's true. I guess I would do that anyway. Now I have more time for everything else." Jimmy said, he smiled a little at Alice.

When Jimmy got home on Friday he and Alice sat down on the couch and started their homework. After an hour had passed Rose came in. "Jimmy you're a boy. Why is Alex avoiding me?" Rose asked him. "I don't know. He's your best friend. You should be able to figure it out." Jimmy said. "Thanks a lot." Rose said sarcastically. "Glad I could help." He said as she went up to her room. An hour later Alice looked at her watch to see what time it was. "Shouldn't your brother be getting home about now?" She asked. "He's probably over at Susan or Robbie's house. He might have gone to the mall with them to do that 'Make a Moose' thing. He loves that." Jimmy said. "Your brother is so adorable." Alice grinned. "Heh…yeah okay." Jimmy mumbled. "What? You don't think so?" Alice asked. "Yeah, sure he's pretty funny." Jimmy said.

An hour later they were studying for a math test that was scheduled for next Monday when Jimmy's mother came in. Shortly after that his father got home as well. "I got a call from Michael's principal. Apparently he wasn't in school today." Lilly said. "You think he was skipping school with his friends?" Oliver asked. "I don't think he would do that." Jimmy commented. "He wasn't. I called Miley, Susan was in school. Then I called Jackson, Robbie was in school too." Lilly said. "I wonder what he's been up to. Maybe he's in his room?" Oliver said. "Maybe, I'll go check." Lilly said. She walked up the stairs and approached Michael's room. "You're in big trouble Michael! I wanna know why you weren't in school today." Lilly said. She received silence, so she stepped into the room. She didn't see him on his bed or sitting at his desk. "Michael you have some explaining to… OH MY GOD! Michael are you alright? Answer me! Can you hear me!?" Lilly shouted frantically. Michael was sprawled out on the floor, he had obviously fallen. His thinned, pale stomach was slightly exposed and his left arm was behind his head, the other arm at his side. He was lying on his back, unconscious and his eyes were closed. "OH MY GOD! OLIVER GET UP HERE QUICKLY!" Lilly yelled at the top of her lungs. Fear was flooding into her mind.

**-TO BE CONTINUED-**

_**To learn more about diabetes check out this site (and others) online:**_

_**-The American Diabetes Association **_

_**Notes to the readers:**_

***Reviews are much appreciated!!**

_** This is the ninth chapter of my saga "A New Life". If you haven't read my first saga you may not know where these characters are coming from. So you might want to read it, or at least "Meant to Be Parts 5-9". This story takes place 3-4 years before the end of "Meant To Be"._

_***Lilly and Oliver, and Miley and Jackson are in their thirties. Jimmy is __**14**__. Rose is __**12**__. Michael and Susan (Miley's daughter), and Robbie Rod (Jackson's son) are all __**10**__._

_****If you want to find my other stories (My first saga) click on my screen name on the top of this page, and you can find my stories on my profile. If you want to stay updated as to when I post new chapters, please subscribe to my username!!_

_*****There will be more in the near future. So I hope you will continue reading. I have no idea how long this saga will last. I have ideas for many more chapters. So it will most likely be at least a little bit longer than "Meant to Be" probably quite a bit longer. Only time will tell._


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